Bio:For a mere 80-issue run, Peter David imbued his vision of Supergirl with a complicated history that defies static description. David's Supergirl undergoes a more-or-less complete arc across those 80 issues, and it can be confusing to wrap your mind around what the character is, or is not, at any one point.

Basically, the series is divided into several sections, with Supergirl having a different identity at each step. There is a remarkable amount of character development present in this version, even though it is confusing at first glance.

To begin with, Linda Danvers is a completely ordinary teenager. A tad depressed and hopeless -- one might even say at the end of her rope, to be sure--but she's a mortal. The first 9 issues of the run detail how she and Supergirl (Matrix) combine into a single, symbiotic entity. Linda gives the artificial, shape-shifting life-form a single, organic life, while the depressed teenager is now given superpowers (albeit not on the order of Superman's) and a purpose in life.

For the next 40 issues, fully half the run, this "merged" Supergirl, after an act of self-sacrifice for an unworthy individual, now becomes further merged with an angel to become an earth-born-angel known as the "Angel of Fire". This brings Linda even greater power, and made her adventures about both the traditional super-heroic theme of "saving" people and also the religious theme of "salvation".

Following the defeat of the Angel of Fire's principal enemy, the Angel of Fire "left" Supergirl, and she was once again as she had been in the first 9 issues. The loss was difficult for her to bear, however, and she immediately set out on a mission to find this "lost" half of her self. She would spend all but the last 5 issues of the run doing so. In the end she was briefly reunited with her Angel.

In what would become the last "arc" of David's run, the original Kara Zor-El suddenly appeared in her life, just when she was comfortable again being only Supergirl. This crossover between Supergirl of Earth 1 and Supergirl of post-Crisis Earth finally linked her to Krypton in a more tangible way than the Byrne/David creation had never quite managed to achieve. Ironically, as soon as these events concluded, Linda seemingly took off the "big red S" for the last time and has not been heard from since.

Notes:a.k.a. Angel of Fire

In the latter stages of this Supergirl's run, she adopted a primarily white uniform (which to many observers seems like a merging of Supergirl and Power Girl's uniforms). This same uniform was first seen on the Supergirl from Superman: The Animated Series. However, the two characters should not be confused. The animated Supergirl is yet another version of Kara Zor-El, similar in many ways to the original Supergirl, but with an attitude closer to Power Girl.

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